Read More ¹

So, you’re retiring
Retiring is a huge life event and can sometimes leave us feeling like we’ve lost our identity. 70-year-old Jay Cassie talks about how she prepared emotionally for retirement and the 3-point plan which helped her. Jay explains how she felt in the lead up to retirement: ‘I think like most people of any age, you think retirement is nirvana. I was thinking, “Oh wouldn’t it be fantastic to not get up early in the morning, not to be working in the evenings."'

‘The one thing you don’t plan for is what you’re going to do with all the free time you’ll have on your hands.'

'After about 3 weeks of being retired, I remember sitting having a cup of coffee and I thought, "Gosh is this it?" But then I thought: "I could live for another 30 years, which is almost half my lifetime." Jay decided to make a plan for what she wanted to do with her life, ‘ I wanted to write a book, start an online magazine for the over 50s, and teach catch-up sessions in my local primary school. Those were the 3 things I concentrated on. And I found that it really worked. It was fantastic to spend time. I found it all very fulfilling. To be honest, I’ve loved getting older.'

Jay’s preparing for retirement tips

• Plan what you’re going to do with your time. When you’ve been working very hard and you’ve been working long hours, you tend not to have had any time for hobbies.
• Start thinking about a hobby or interest that you would like to pursue.
• Find friends because your social circle gets smaller when you leave work. You can join a club, do an evening class, or simply invite a neighbour in for coffee.
• Be positive and go out and do things. When you become a retiree, you can feel like you lose your identity. But you still have a contribution to make to life as an older person.
• Don’t be negative, look for the positive things in life. I do meditation, and every night before I go to bed, I try to think of 10 good things that have happened to me.
• Try to grasp technology, it’s not the easiest of things but technology can really allow you to do a lot of things – it allows you to keep in touch with family all over the world and learn so many different things.
• Remember it is a closing of one chapter of your life and the opening of a new trajectory of opportunity

Retirement often means a loss of identity. Whether you identified as a banker, cook, or teacher, retirement can cause you to question who you are now that you’re no longer working. Other issues that accompany retirement—such as more time and less money—can also make for a difficult adjustment. Some retirees experience mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, after they've stopped working.

Eight tips to help you adjust

1. Expect to Go Through Stages of Emotions
There’s an emotional process that most people go through when adjusting to retirement. At first, there’s a feeling of freedom. But then you may feel anxiety and boredom. You might even feel guilty for not enjoying retirement.

2. Structure Your Days
Pre-retirement, you had a routine Alarm goes off, shower, breakfast, pack a lunch, head out the door. There was probably a similar structure to the end of your days that began when you walked back over the threshold of your home. If you thrive with a schedule, you might establish a retirement routine that helps you plan your days. Experiment with various activities and time slots to see how it makes you feel.

3. Set Small Goals
Your pre-retirement life was measured in meeting milestones, such as making deadlines, finishing projects, or getting a promotion. You can still focus on goals after you retire, though they might be a little different than they were before. Think about what milestones you might want to meet in the first month, six months, or one year that you’ve been retired and write them down. Do you want to lose 10 pounds? Travel to Europe? Finish five books that you’ve been putting off? The sky’s the limit.

4. Grow Your Friendships
There’s a significant risk of becoming isolated during retirement. This can play into the restructuring of your daily routine—ask one friend to meet you for lunch every Monday, another friend to go walking through the neighbourhood with you on Wednesdays and a third pal to grab a coffee on Friday afternoons.

5. Consider an “Encore” Job
Who says that retirement from one job must mean leaving the workforce entirely? Several folks try out a less-stressful secondary career, perhaps one that’s part-time, after leaving their long-time industry. Research suggests that retirees who got a “bridge” job, another term for this type of work, are often in better health, both mentally and physically, and report higher levels of life satisfaction.

6. Create a New Budget
Even the best savers might have to make some spending adjustments after retirement. Figure out what you need in your new post-career life and what you don’t. For example, that clothing budget that you always spent on business clothes can go out the window, and replaced with a membership budget toward organizations that you wish to join.

7. Schedule Volunteer Shifts
Not willing to go back to the office grind? You can reap the same benefits by volunteering. The perks might be related to the expanded social ties that volunteering provides or the sense of purpose a person can feel by committing to charitable causes. It’s not only going to boost your psychological well-being, but it could improve your cardiovascular health and lower the risk of hypertension, too.

8. Give Yourself Flexibility to Figure It Out
You might think that you want to spend your retirement painting, cooking, and reading, but then find out that all that time spent at home doesn’t fulfil the lifestyle you dreamed about. You finally have time to experiment with what you really want. Remember retiring is not a one-way ticket to isolation or no purpose. It’s all about recapturing those things you never had a chance to do. Have a think over this festive period about ways to fill your days.

Retirement is a huge life change. It can mean slowing down spending days in the garden, reading, golfing, cooking or it could mean looking after grandchildren, volunteering or learning a skill. It is important we understand what funds we have for when we retire and how we can make the best decisions for our retirement no matter if it is close or far away. The Electrical Industries Charity recently supported Jilly, an office manager for an electrical distributor.

Jilly had worked in the sector for over 23 years and she contacted the Electrical Industries Charity for information and advice regarding retirement. She had been thinking about retirement for more than five years but because of issues with her mortgage and a recent divorce she had been unable to retire until the age of 68. Jilly had recently become aware of an old employer’s pension and wanted to combine her private pension pot with her employer’s pension and her delayed state pension. Jilly had carried out some internet research into combining her pots and managing her pensions but felt overwhelmed with the advice online and was unsure of a lot of its legitimacy.

The Charity welfare team signposted Jilly to The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) which provides free, impartial guidance about pensions. TPAS cover all workplace, general, personal, stake holder and state pension schemes and can handle general and specific enquiries. TPAS were able to advice Jilly on combining her pots and how to make them work best for her and her retirement plans. The Electrical Industries Charity also advised Jilly to contact the governmental pension service as she had deferred her state pension for more than one year.

Alongside TPAS and the governmental pension service Jilly’s Charity caseworker also directed her to the Money Advice Service. The Money Advice Service is a free service set up by the government to help manage finances. Here, Jilly could find an independent financial advisor to ensure her pension was working as hard it could for her needs. With the help of a financial advisor Jilly is looking forward to a financially comfortable future. Jilly has downsized and is now living on the coast, a forever dream of hers. The Electrical Industries Charity have now closed Jilly’s case and wish her the best of luck in her retirement.

If you need some guidance and advice the Electrical Industries Charity can help you. Please contact the welfare team on 0800 652 1618 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sometimes we may feel we aren’t ready to retire and although work may be tiring it can seem, after a lifetime of going to work, daunting to retire. We may think we aren’t able to retire so continue to work without even considering the possibility of retirement. Mike, a power station employee, approached the Electrical Industries Charity after suffering with anxiety and stress at work. Mike had worked within the station for decades and was nearing his mid-sixties.

Mike was struggling with his work life balance. The plant had recently employed new management who made redundancies and Mike found the period very stressful. To ensure he was not made redundant and prove his value Mike had begun to work very long hours sacrificing his personal life completely. Mike had begun to experience burnout and was increasingly tired, irritable, and anxious. Mike’s home life suffered, and he was often missing family occasions because of work. Once the redundancy period passed Mike felt he was unable to reduce his working hours and continued to keep long hours in the office. This worsened Mike’s stress levels, and his physical and emotional well-being were really suffering.

The Electrical Industries Charity referred Mike for counselling, and he found this immeasurably helpful. During counselling sessions Mike worked through coping strategies but also found he valued his home life far more than work. After eight sessions with a therapist, six funded by the Electrical Industries Charity and two self-funded, Mike had decided to re-evaluate his finances and retire.

Mike and his wife had already paid off their mortgage and Mike was able to take his occupational pension. After reviewing their finances with a financial advisor and Mike’s wife continuing to work part-time, they decided to downsize and were quickly able to sell their home and move closer to their grandchildren. Since retiring Mike no longer feels stressed nor anxious, his and wife’s relationship has greatly improved, and Mike has taken a keen interest in tai chi. With the help of counselling Mike was able to see how work had been affecting him and his therapy gave him a huge sense of clarity and relief. Mike realised deciding to retire was one of the easiest decisions he had ever made and is looking forward to many more year’s stress and anxiety free.

The Electrical Industries Charity can support your emotional wellbeing needs. If you need assistance please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0800 652 1618.

Read More ²

Christmas time is a period in which we gather our friends and family to celebrate the year past and toast to the new year as well as share joy, memories and plenty of treats. While for a lot of us this holiday period is a joyous occasion it can make some of us feel more lonely than normal. It is no surprise that the elderly can feel isolated not only at Christmas but throughout the whole year. 

Older people are especially vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation – and it can have a serious effect on health. According to Age UK, more than 2 million people in England over the age of 75 live alone, and more than a million older people say they go for over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour, or family member. People can become socially isolated for a variety of reasons, such as getting older or weaker, leaving the workplace, the deaths of spouses and friends, or through disability or illness. Feeling alone and vulnerable, can lead to depression and a serious decline in physical health and wellbeing. There's a stigma surrounding loneliness, and older people tend not to ask for help because they have too much pride.

According to the latest analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, older people aged 50 and over living in England are:

• 5.5 times more likely to be often lonely if they don’t have someone to open up to when they need to talk compared with older people who have someone
• 5.2 times more likely to be often lonely if they are widowed compared with older people who are in a relationship
• 3.0 times more likely to be often lonely if they feel they are never able to do the things they want
• 2.3 times more likely to be often lonely if they have money issues that prevent them doing the things, they want to do than people who do not have money issues
• 1.6 times more likely to be often lonely if they live alone than older people who live with somebody
• 76% of over 50s said they often feel lonely

Read more - "All the Lonely People: Loneliness in Later Life. Understanding the circumstances associated with feeling lonely and explaining what we know works in supporting people to tackle feelings of persistent loneliness."

Read More ³ 

Smile, even if it feels hard
Grab every chance to smile at others or begin a conversation – for instance, with the cashier at the shop or the person next to you in the GP waiting room. 

Invite friends for tea
If you're feeling down and alone, it's tempting to think nobody wants to visit you. But often friends, family and neighbours will appreciate receiving an invitation to come and spend some time with you. If you'd prefer for someone else to host, Contact the Elderly is a charity that holds regular free Sunday afternoon tea parties for people over the age of 75 who live alone. You'll be collected from your home and driven to a volunteer host's home for the afternoon. Apply online or call Contact the Elderly on 0800 716 543.

Keep in touch by phone
Having a chat with a friend or relative over the phone can be the next best thing to being with them. Or you can call The Silver Line, a helpline for older people set up by Esther Rantzen, on 0800 4 70 80 90. You can also call Independent Age on 0800 319 6789, Age UK on 0800 055 6112, or Friends of the Elderly on 0300 332 1110 to receive a weekly or fortnightly friendship call from a volunteer who enjoys talking to older people.

Learn to love computers
If your friends and family live far away, a good way to stay in touch, especially with grandchildren, is by using a personal computer. You can share emails and photos with family and friends, have free video chats using services such as Skype, FaceTime or Viber, and make new online "friends" or reconnect with old friends on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter and website forums. Libraries and community centres often hold regular training courses for older people to learn basic computer skills – as well as being a good place to meet and spend time with others. Local branches of Age UK run classes in computing to help older people get to grips with smartphones, tablet computers and email.

Get involved in local community activities
These will vary according to where you live, but the chances are you'll have access to a singing or walking group, book clubs, bridge, bingo, quiz nights and faith groups.
The Silver Line helpline (0800 470 8090) can let you know what's going on in your local area.

Fill your diary
It can help you feel less lonely if you plan the week ahead and put things in your diary to look forward to each day, such as a walk in the park or going to a local coffee shop, library, sports centre, cinema or museum. Independent Age has published a guide about what to do if you're feeling lonely, which includes tips about activities you could try.

Download: "If you're feeling lonely. How to stay connected in older age"

or order a free print copy by calling 0800 319 6789, or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Get out and about
Don't wait for people to come and see you – travel to visit them. One advantage of being older is that public transport is better value. Local bus travel is free for older people across England. Contact your local authority for more information on how to apply. Use this State Pension calculator to find out the exact date when you can apply for your free bus pass. For longer distances, train and coach travel can be cheap, too, especially if you book in advance online and use a Senior Railcard.

The Royal Voluntary Service can put you in touch with volunteers who provide free transport for older people with mobility issues or who live in rural areas with limited public transport.

Help others
Use the knowledge and experience you have gained over a lifetime to give something back to your community. You'll get lots back in return, such as new skills and confidence – and, hopefully, some new friends, too. Examples are Home-Start, Sure Start, helping in a local charity shop or hospital, Citizens Advice, and school reading programmes. Find out how to volunteer in your area on the NCVO website

Join the University of the Third Age
The University of the Third Age (U3A) operates in many areas, offering older people the chance to learn or do something new. Run by volunteers, U3A has no exams. Instead, it gives you the chance to do, play or learn something you may never have done before, or something you haven't considered since your school days. U3A is also a great place to meet people and make new friends.

Find your nearest U3A
There are lots of charities that you can reach out to if you are feeling lonely or just want someone to chat to. AGEUK offer a wide range of services to help you combat loneliness.

Some people may be aware they're lonely, but just not know what they can about it. If you suspect someone you know may be lonely, you can help by: Be there. Simply being there for them can let them know that someone cares. Don't be afraid to ask them how they are feeling or if there's anything you can do to help. Having someone who is willing to listen could be a great comfort.

Be patient. When someone's lonely, particularly if it's associated with poor mental health or physical health, they may get irritable or feel misunderstood by others. You may need to offer gentle assurance.
Encourage and support. Reassure them that it's possible to feel better with the right help. They may need some support to make new social connections or access services designed to tackle loneliness.

You can also help to make an active difference to someone’s everyday life by becoming a volunteer:
https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/volunteer 

If you would like to volunteer for a charity that directly supports older people who might be lonely, look at our management group partners:
https://www.independentage.org/get-involved/how-can-i-volunteer
https://volunteering.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/volunteering
https://www.sense.org.uk
https://www.thesilverline.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering

• Bereavement and loss
• Loneliness
• Becoming a carer
• Loss of independence
• Finding it more difficult to do the things you used to do
• Feeling more vulnerable as you get older – at risk of scams for example
• Loss of daily routine and social contact following retirement
• Money worries
• Moving to a new house, including moving to a new area or moving into a care home

• Talk to your GP
• Tell someone you trust
• Call an emotional support helpline like Samaritans (116 123) or The Silver Line (0800 4 70 80 90)
• Call a specialist mental health helpline like Rethink (0300 5000 927) or Mind (0300 123 3393)
• You could also try the self-help advice and tools on the NHS website, such as the NHS mood self-assessment tool and Every Mind Matters

If you need help to look after yourself
If you’re finding it difficult to look after yourself, make sure you’re getting enough support. Ask your local council for a care needs assessment, which will work out what your care needs are and how they might be met.